Get there: Take the HOP 2 Chautauqua. The free bus runs every 15 minutes up 9th Street from downtown and between the park and the Basemar Center (Baseline & Broadway) and the 27th Way Park and Ride. (bouldercolorado.gov)

What do you get when you combine the best of Boulder's filmmaking scene, the enthusiasm of 2,700 members of the core climbing community and an amphitheater beneath the Flatirons?

"The most exciting Reel Rock yet," says Peter Mortimer, co-founder of the film tour that's set to premiere at Chautauqua Sept.

Advertisement

13-14.

The Reel Rock film tour has become known for its vivid imagery of the world's most sought-after climbing routes, coverage of cutting-edge climbers and its 300-plus showings worldwide. The Boulder premiere kicks off the tour's seventh season with a four-film lineup that blends heavy climbing epics with lighthearted romps, and it spans the breadth of climbing from big-mountain epics to off-width adventures.

"These stories are meatier and bigger than they've been in years past," says Mortimer, who also founded Boulder-based Sender Films -- one of the best adventure filmmaking companies of the day and the meeting point for the creative minds behind the tour's lineup. "They complement each other both in terms of content and pacing, and the four films we're showing this year -- 'La Dura Dura,' 'Shark's Fin,' 'Wide Boys' and 'Honnold 3.0' -- took years of filming and are a collaboration of dozens of filmmakers who all want to push to be the best."

Mortimer compares the filmmakers to the climbers they document -- and whom the Reel Rock tour has helped to inspire. "Like them, we feed off the global movement of climbers trying to do more and do it better," he says. "It's really positive and it's making the Reel Rock tour so much stronger -- it's a win-win for climbing, filmmaking and our community."

Mortimer is hoping a venue change will offer more of a sense of community for this year's Boulder premiere. Instead of the usual unveiling in the always-sold-out Boulder Theater, opening night has been moved to the larger auditorium space at Chautauqua, where Mortimer believes the atmosphere will be both festive and decidedly more community-centric than in years past.

"We'll more than double the number of people who'll be able to see the show in Boulder's first screening -- 2,700 in the first two nights. And the barn vibe at Chautauqua is like a dream for outdoor lovers," says Mortimer, adding that legendary climbing locals will turn out in full force. "Expect a who's who of attendees," he adds, dropping names such as climbing legend Lynn Hill and adventure journalist Jon Krakauer.

But what's different about this year's lineup? Instead of a string of short films, Sender's approach to this year's tour is more about longer storytelling. As always, the movies shift focus between a variety of climbing techniques and styles. But this year, says Mortimer, the length of each allows for a deeper look into the minds and hearts of the characters -- legends like Chris Sharma, Conrad Anker and Alex Honnold.

"We started filming a wide swath of the climbing community but really focused in on these stories," Mortimer says, "not because these guys are what you expect of world-class climbers but because the stories really complement each other and these guys are climbing at a new level. There's so much sacrifice and risk and investment in their efforts that they're just fun to watch."

Among them is Honnold, 27, whose trifecta of ropeless ascents of Yosemite's big walls are featured in this year's Reel Rock lineup.

"This film ('Honnold 3.0') about Alex is the grand finale of the show," Mortimer says. "He's at the current limit of what athletic endeavors can look like."

Honnold will make a rare public appearance at the premiere, signing posters and, perhaps, getting up on stage. "It's awesome that Honnold is coming into his own as a celebrity," says Mortimer. Adds Honnold: "My life has become more high-profile."

The lawn outside Chautauqua will be sprinkled with booths representing sponsors and nonprofit partners, including the Access Fund and American Alpine Club, and there will be giveaways and food and beer-garden provisions from Whole Foods and Avery Brewing Co. There will be free transportation to the venue via a special-event RTD HOP 2 Chautauqua. After the show, there will be an after-party at the West End Tavern.

Fans of the tour are excited about this year's premiere.

"Despite what else may be going on in my life, Reel Rocks provides a dose of community and anchors me in everything that is inspiring and energizing about the sport," says Erin Flemming, a 27-year-old climber who has attended Reel Rock for several years and plans to attend Thursday night's opening event. "Reel Rocks has become an annual tradition for my friends and I, in which we tap into the communal stoke and good vibrations that run deep through the heart of our community of rock lusters."

Jonathan Huey, a 33-year-old who identified himself a "casual climber," agrees:

"What these guys do on film is amazing, beautiful, crazy and stupid. Just what I need to run the gamut of emotions and get excited about upping my own game, even if it's on a totally different -- by that, I mean mellower -- level."

The films

The Dura Dura (27 minutes): Legendary sport climber Chris Sharma isn't exactly passing the torch, but he's giving nerdy 19-year-old Czech Adam Ondra a glimpse of his glory as the two team up to attempt the world's hardest climb, a 5.15c near Sharma's home turf in Catalunya, Spain. Meanwhile, on a rock nearby, 19-year-old American Sasha DiGiulian and Canary Islands native Dalia Ojeda are pushing the boundaries for women climbers on tougher-than-thou ascents.

The Shark's Fin (25 minutes): With the wounds of a recent accident barely healed, legend Conrad Anker joins forces with filmmaker/adventurers Jimmy Chin and Renan Ozturk in this visually stunning film that speaks to the big-mountain adventurers out there. Anker makes his second attempt at the unclimbed granite between the base of India's Mount Meru and its 6,310-meter summit.

Wide Boys (12 minutes): British propriety meets roughneck Americana in all it's glory--complete with big, rocky cracks that take serious technique to conquer. This zany romp of a film documents the efforts of two UK-based climbers, Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker, to blend into the dirty subculture of off-width climbers in the American Southwest -- and to jam just about everything they've got into a first ascent of a 100-foot roof called Century Crack in the heart of Utah's Canyonlands.

Honnold 3.0 (32 minutes): The title's a riff on next-gen upgrades, the trifecta of peaks at the heart of this story; it's also the name of one of the most audacious climbers in history, freesolo-superstar Alex Honnold. This film is meta: It looks at Honnold as he turns inward for some perspective about where to take his career -- while he's prepping for, then successfully completing, a 19-hour push up three of Yosemite's iconic big walls.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story